The drums of war are sounding, again
It now appears highly likely that Australia once again is headed for war in Iraq, perhaps not with masses of ground combat forces as occurred last decade, but with military force nonetheless. It is imperative that the militant brigades of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) be halted. They have waged terror across Syria, Iraq and into Lebanon, and conducted unspeakably brutal crimes. Whole cities are now in its grip. But The Age urges the government to consider Australia's position with caution before plunging headlong into this venture. The momentum is building, but the strategy for eradicating ISIL remains elusive..
Editorial : THE AGE
13 September 2014
War Frames
As Prime Minister Tony Abbott oversees Australia's deployment of troops to Iraq from his temporary office in
the Garma Knowledge Centre on the Gulkula plateau, politicians and
observers are looking for the right frame to describe the military
operation. The Labor Party has fallen into line behind the government, accepting Abbott's assertions that
the mission against the Islamic State is unlike others in the Middle
East and that while this mission is essentially humanitarian, there's
also a national security component: if allowed to expand, the Islamic
State would inevitably pose a threat to Australia. Mark Kenny reports in
the Fairfax press that "sources close to" Abbott insist that he's
acting on a clear moral sense of duty, which flows from the simple
characterisation of the Islamic State as "evil". This perhaps explains
his eagerness to involve Australia, which has been much quicker off the
mark than Britain.
The
Greens and others, on the other hand, worry that Australia's eagerness
looks too much like its traditional deference to its "great and powerful
friends". Christine Milne yesterday pointed to
the lack of a time-frame or even clearly-defined objectives to
Australia's mission, and raised the concern that Australia's involvement
will only encourage the radicalisation of disaffected and alienated
young Muslims. Although Abbott and ASIO's outgoing Director-General of
Security David Irvine have denied any such correlation, ASIO's own report to parliament in 2012-13 acknowledged that Australia's military operations in the Middle East do raise the risk of domestic terrorism.
In Washington, journalist Paul McGeough points out that
the US-led mission lacks clarity. Those urging military action in the
US, Britain and Australia are particularly animated by the potential
dangers posed by "returning Jihadists", but those governments are rarely
asked to quantify that threat in any way. Meanwhile there appears
disagreement on either side of the Pacific as to whether the mission
should even be described as a "war".
Russell Marks
Editor : The Monthly
16 September 2014
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